Design Your Mom Blog to Maximize Sales

Don’t make your blog visitors have to think about what you want them to do. Make it immediately understandable, a call to action. Knowing who your customer is and what you’re selling might seem to be basic things, but you might be surprised how few people think through these two steps very clearly. Tailoring your site to attract the right people and sell these things is half the battle.

Liz Strauss of Successful Blog was the one that first introduced me to this idea — focusing your efforts on one big banana. Liz showed me that you need to make perfectly clear what your blog reader can get from being on your site — and the way to do that is to create an impossible-to-miss call to action.

Buy something: If you want someone to make a purchase, don’t clutter up your sales page with links to your favorite blogs or articles about related topics. Keep it clear — a photograph, a description, and a big Buy Now button.

Register: If your blog has a section that requires people to register, you’ll want to explain the benefits of registering at the top of the page, and keep it viewable without scrolling.

Download something: You might have a free download that either entices people to sign up for your newsletter, or is a case study that shows potential clients what you’re capable of. You want to promote this prominently on your pages — and create a separate page free of extraneous information to convince them to download it, functioning much like a sales page.

Sign up for something: You may have an event, a newsletter, or a Facebook page that you’re promoting. Again, feature this prominently on your blog and minimize distractions.

If you’d like to see a great example of a call to action on a blog, check out Aliza Sherman’s newsletter Subscribe button. On the site the button is bright red and the most prominent item on the page.